Rebelonging (Unbelonging, Book 2) (12 page)

Grumbling, I snapped on his leash before
getting within ten feet of the door. I'd learned all his tricks the
hard way, and I wasn't about to fall for them again. With Chucky
securely at my side, I stomped to the front door, flung it open,
and bellowed, "What!"

Erika stood, blinking in the dappled
sunlight. "So, uh, is this a bad time?"

Before I could form an answer, a furry
land-rocket shot past my ankles. I looked to my hand. The leash was
still there. Chucky wasn't. Instead, he was tearing full speed
ahead toward the front sidewalk.

"Chucky, you come back here!" I hollered.

Giving Erika a frantic look, I plunged
barefoot out of the entryway to sprint after him. The ground was
frozen, sending shockwaves of icy jolts into the bare soles of my
feet. Still, I pursued Chucky across the front yard, twice around a
giant pine tree, straight through a dormant flower bed, and back
toward the house.

Halfway to the front door, he stopped long
enough to let me almost reach him. But just as I leaned down to
scoop him up, he gave a yip and raced toward driveway.

I threw up my hands. "Fine! Go! See if I
care!"

Ignoring my tirade, he circled my car and
skidded to a stop near the driver's side door.

And then it hit me. My car. What was it doing
here
? Last time I'd seen it, it was stalled at the
restaurant. Wasn't it?

I was mentally scratching my head when
suddenly Chucky's body tensed. His ears twitched, and his nose
turned toward the house.

A moment later, he took off at full speed
toward Erika. She was crouching near the front entrance holding
something in her outstretched palm. It looked suspiciously like a
breakfast biscuit.

When Chucky dove for the biscuit, she scooped
him up, biscuit and all, and dashed into the house, slamming the
door behind her.

Wordlessly, I stalked up to the door and
twisted the doorknob. It didn't budge. What the hell? I tried
again. Nothing. I hollered through the door. "Hey! Erika! The
door's locked. Let me in, alright? "

A moment later, the door flew open. Erika
stood with insanely messy hair and Chucky held tight at her side.
"What!" she screeched, barely keeping a straight face.

I glared at her. "Is that supposed to be
funny?"

She grinned. "Yeah. Totally. Wasn't it?"

Probably on any other day, it would've been.
Today, not so much. "You know," I said, "I'm really not in the mood
for this."

"Oh c'mon," she said. "I rescued your dog,
didn't I?"

"He's not my dog." I jostled my way inside
and slammed the door behind me. My feet were numb, and the rest of
me was only slightly less miserable. I looked down to see clumps of
dirt lodged between my bare toes. "Stupid flower beds," I said.

I trudged into the living room, leaving a
trail of dirt behind me. Just great. I mentally added
floor-cleaning to my to-do list. I sank onto the front sofa and
buried my face in my hands.

Erika flopped down on the recliner across
from me. "That was your biscuit by the way."

I looked up. "Yeah. I figured."

"Want half of mine?" She held out a white
paper bag.

I gave it a dubious look. "Does it have
bacon?"

"Sorry."

"That's alright." I waved the bag away. "You
go ahead. Eat. Honestly, I'm not hungry, anyway."

She reached into the bag and pulled out the
biscuit. "Rough night?" she said, unwrapping it and taking a
bite.

"You have no idea." I glanced over at Chucky,
settling into his favorite basket. If only I had a basket. I'd
probably never come out. I returned my gaze to Erika. "So what are
you doing here?" I said. "I thought you were heading back to
State."

"Yeah. I'm on the way now, actually. But I
couldn't find my dorm key. You haven't seen it here, have you?"

I groaned. "Oh crap. I'm sorry." I vaguely
recalled seeing a strange key last night while rushing around
getting ready for work. "I meant to call you, but…" I shook my
head, not sure where to start.

So I started at the beginning and kept
going.

When I was done, Erika sat in stunned
silence. I'd just told her everything that had happened since I'd
seen her last, starting with the so-called kidnapping attempt and
ending with everything Lawton had told me during the walk home.

Her mouth hung open. "And
all
this
happened since I saw you last?"

I nodded.

"But that was only last night."

"Tell me about it," I said. "So now, Lawton
wants another chance. But I'm not so sure."

She laughed. "You liar."

"I'm not lying," I said.

"You are, too. You're totally nuts for
him."

"Maybe. But he's a total psycho."

"Oh, c'mon. He's not that bad. At least not
the way you tell it."

"Oh yeah?" I pulled up my shirt sleeve and
thrust out my wrist. "Look." The bruises had darkened overnight,
making the raw skin that much more ugly. "You believe me now?"

Her gaze narrowed. "That asshole."

"Exactly."

"So," she said, "you think he'd do it
again?"

I didn't even have to think about it. "No.
Definitely not."

She leaned back in her chair and said,
"Hmm…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" I said.

She shrugged.

"Look," I told her, "you know how this goes.
As soon as some girl thinks, 'Oh, he'd never do
that
again',
that's when she's totally screwed."

She raised her eyebrows. "Because?"

"Because they always do."

"Uh-huh," Erika said. "Except you just said
he wouldn't."

"Don't listen to me," I said. "I mean, what
if I'm one of
those
girls."

"
Which
girls?"

I launched into a high-pitched imitation.
"Sure, Bobby cheated on me like a dozen times with my sister, but
I'm telling you, he's a changed man. He told me so and
everything."

Erika gave me a look. "Trust me. You are
so
not that girl."

"Yeah? How do
you
know?"

"For starters," she said, "you're not exactly
the most trusting person in the world."

"I'm not so bad."

"Yes, you are."

"Okay, fine. But maybe there's a good reason
for that."

"Maybe," she said. "But here's a question.
When you told Lawton you were just the house-sitter, what did he
say?"

"Are you kidding?" I said. "I didn't tell
him."

She pretended to scratch her chin. "Hmmm…I
wonder why that is."

"You know exactly why," I said. "I promised
the Parkers. Remember?"

"But you told
me
," she said.

"Yeah, but you're different."

"Why?" she asked.

"You just are."

"As flattered as I am," she said, "there's
something you need to hear."

"What?"

"Alright." She leaned forward in her chair.
"I hate to tell you this, but you brought a lot of this on
yourself."

I stared over at her. So here, I'd spilled my
guts, expecting a shoulder to cry on. But what I got was a kick to
the teeth.

"Gee," I said, "maybe I should've called
Loretta. At least when
she
insults me, it's not exactly a
surprise."

"Yeah but Loretta's a bitch. Me? I'm just
delightfully honest."

"I wouldn’t exactly call it delightful," I
said.

"Want to hear my theory?" she said.

"Probably not."

"Too bad," she said. "That agreement with the
Parkers? That's just your excuse."

"For what?" I said.

"Do I seriously need to spell this out?"

I crossed my arms. "Apparently."

"Alright, admit it. You liked the fact he
thought this was your house."

"Oh shut up."

"So you passed the test. Congratulations, you
fit in. You belong. Yippee for you."

"I don't fucking believe this."

"Hey, I'm not judging you." She grinned.
"Last weekend? I told this guy I was a stripper. He totally got off
on it."

"You know what?" I said. "You're not as smart
as you think you are. Did I tell you about Lawton's brother?"

"What about him?"

"Apparently, he has this thing for breaking
and entering."

Her eyebrows furrowed. "How do you know?"

"Because," I said, "he broke into here
once."

She looked around. "So what'd he do? Make off
with the TV? Raid the liquor cabinet?" She waggled her eyebrows.
"Panty-raid?"

"Oh stop it. Technically, he didn't steal
anything."

"So what'd he do? Break a window, smash a
door? What?"

"No, it was nothing like that. But he
did
look at my license."

"Oh, heaven forbid. I hope you called the
FBI."

"C'mon, this is serious," I said. "You know
where my license was? In my purse. Right here in this house. And I
wasn't even home."

"And Lawton put him up to it?"

"Well, no," I admitted. "But still, the guy's
his brother. They're related."

She gave me a look. "Just like you and your
Mom are related?"

"Hey, I'm not my Mom."

"Oh. I see."

"No," I said. "I don't think you do."

"So lemme ask you this. Does Lawton even
know
his brother broke in?"

"Yeah, he knows."

"So Lawton was the one who told you about
it?"

"No. I just overheard them talking, that's
all."

"Oh," she said. "So you were
eavesdropping."

"No. It wasn't like that."

She shrugged. "If you say so."

"Jeez, what's up with you today?"

"Nothing." She crossed her arms. "If you
can't handle a little truth, it's not my problem."

"Yeah? Well, maybe instead of judging me, you
should look in the mirror."

"What's that supposed to mean?" she said.

"You know what started all this? Our little
birthday party, with that stupid movie poster."

In the poster, a gag gift designed by Erika
herself, Lawton had been shirtless with beads of sweat glistening
on his bare chest and a woman's arms encircling him from
behind.

That fictional woman had my face, just like
the fictional movie had its own title,
Riding the Rastor
.
The whole thing had been a joke, right until Lawton saw the poster
and assumed it was real.

"So now my poster's stupid?" she said.

"No," I said. "Sorry, I didn't mean that.
Honest."

"Well, what did you mean?"

"It's just that between the poster and that
stupid sex tape you brought over, well, Lawton went a little nuts
when he found everything. He thought I was this crazy stalker chick
looking to make a porno on the sly."

"Well,
excuse
me for wanting to
celebrate your birthday." She stood. "You know what? I really don't
have time for this crap. Where's my keys?"

"Crap?" I said.

"Do you have my keys or what?"

"Oh, so
that's
your big problem? You
can't find your keys? Poor you."

"What's
that
supposed to mean?"

"I mean," I said, "that you have no idea what
it's like to be me. Wanna know what'll happen if
you
lose
your keys? Your parents will buy you new ones. Wanna know what
happens to
me
when I lose my keys? I get locked out." My
voice rose. "And I don't have a single fucking person I can
call."

"Yeah? That's funny," she said, "because
actually, you've called
me
plenty of times.
And
my
parents. Or do you pretend
those
are yours too?"

I felt my face grow hot. "That's unfair, and
you know it."

"Whatever." She started walking toward the
door. "You know what? Fuck the dorm keys. You're right. I'll just
have my rich Mommy and Daddy bail me out like they always do."

"Erika, c'mon. I'm sorry, alright?"

"Why should you be sorry? You're exactly
right. I wouldn’t know a real problem if it bit me on the ass."

"C'mon. I never said that."

"Whatever. I'm just saying, so what if you're
just the house-sitter? It's not like you're Hitler, for God's
sake."

"I never said I was."

"And if you like this guy enough to let him
stick his dick in you, then you sure as shit should like him enough
to be honest with him."

With that, she opened the front door and
stalked out toward her car.

"Oh yeah?" I yelled out the open doorway.
"Tell that to the guy who thinks you're a stripper!"

After Erika peeled out of the driveway, I
slammed the door, stumbled back to bed, and cried myself to sleep.
By the time I woke, it was late afternoon.

Lawton aside, the argument with Erika haunted
my thoughts. We'd argued before, but never like that. It was my
fault. I just knew it. I'd been crabby from the moment she showed
up. It was no wonder we'd gotten into a huge, screaming fight.

I pulled out my cell phone and gave her a
call. It went straight to voicemail, and I didn't leave a message.
When I apologized, I wanted to do it directly.

About Lawton, maybe she was right. Maybe she
wasn't. But I had no right to snap at her just because she'd given
me an honest opinion. And in truth, I loved that poster. She'd made
it herself. She'd come all the way down from college just to give
it to me.

If anyone was spoiled, it was me.

Heading out the front door to walk Chucky, I
stopped short at the sight of my car in the driveway. I vaguely
recalled noticing it earlier, but with everything else going on, I
hadn't done more than wonder.

After the walk, I got Chucky settled in the
house and returned to the driveway alone. Holding my breath, I
settled myself into the driver's seat and turned the key in the
ignition. It started on the first try.

This had to be Lawton's doing. Other than the
busboy who'd given me a ride home, Lawton was the only one who knew
about my car troubles.